Famous guitarists with Gibson L-5S?

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

The guy that played on "Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione also played one, he's quite a melodic player.

Grant Geissman? Cool...I'd only ever seen him playing the big hollow L-5CES model.

[gingataff]

I've seen a picture of John McLaughlin playing one in his Mahavishnu days.

I don't have a L-5S myself but if I may be excused for a bit of thread derailment, here's a picture of my prototype Core J model made by Masayuki Takaesu, clearly influenced by the L-5S.

[Flogger59]

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by gingataff

I've seen a picture of John McLaughlin playing one in his Mahavishnu days.

Oh yeah, I remember the liner notes to the Inner Worlds album made reference to an L-5S used with his prehistoric Walter Sear guitar-synthesizer. Never seen a pic though.

That Core J looks pretty sweet!

[gingataff]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

Oh yeah, I remember the liner notes to the Inner Worlds album made reference to an L-5S used with his prehistoric Walter Sear guitar-synthesizer. Never seen a pic though.

Here you are,

That Core J looks pretty sweet!

Thanks. I'm not convinced about the Bartolini pickups but overall she's incredibly well made and very easy to play.

[rob S]

Jorma kaukonen
Played one in hot tuna

[kafka]

I've always wanted an L5S. Beautiful guitars. Just never became a purchase priority, though.

[rob S]

Eric gales and paul simon

[myles]

I had one back in the mid-70's, one of the first ones with the low-impedance pickups. I put a stop bar on it. Maybe someone out there has it?

Unfortunately, they were made by Gibson in the 70's, so the quality wasn't great, and the thing was astoundingly heavy. The neck never seemed quite stable, holding tune was iffy. But it was about as blingy as it got.

I remember an article in Guitar Player about the Sons of Champlin, if my memory is working... a guy in that band played one.

[rkopald]

I thought Santana was playing one of these in the early 70s...
I knew a guy that had one when I was in high school, and it was a nice guitar.
Played amazing, and sounded great.
Always wanted one...

[myles]

Santana was L6-S, I believe. At least that's what he was playing in the Gibson ads of the time...

[Bob Ross]

Someone's kid, apparently:




::: jealous :::

[rkopald]

Originally Posted by myles

Santana was L6-S, I believe. At least that's what he was playing in the Gibson ads of the time...

Ahhh..indeed it was. It was nice! (my friends, that is)

[Joe Cole]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

"Jim Williams"?

. It came with Gibson's new "Super Humbuckers", ceramic loaded pickups epoxy potted. Those sounded like crap so they were replaced with alnico's.
.

I agree. I have an L6-S with them same pickups and it only came alive when I switched out those pickups and installed Seymour JB/'59 combo with a 3 way toggle.

[kafka]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

I loved the 6 way switch, that got all the combinations. I also added two more 6 way switches, one for each humbucker so I could get all the coil combinations. It generated 216 possible choices. There was also a varitone coil added and a pot for notch depth.

Jeezus, man. 216 combinations? How do you remember which ones to use?

[Artie Fisk]

I had a 1974 Gibson Midnight Special (the "entry level" guitar in the L-6S line), and can echo the opinions of those "super humbuckers" that have been airing here: they sucked. I could NOT get a good sound out of them. The Midnight Special was my first electric, and i just hated it. The neck was NOT for me, at all, and I could not get anything like the sounds I wanted to hear from it. My first amps (long story, but I somehow ended up with two GREAT amps when i was 18 - wish I had them now) were a 1978 Bassman Ten and a 1974 Pro Reverb, and I couldn't get any good sounds out of THOSE with the Midnight Special. Sad, really. It seemed like such a good idea, too. I'm sure the L-6S would have been better, with that switching system. The Midnight Special didn't have that rotary "vari-tone" kind of selector--instead it had one volume, one tone, and a 3-position toggle. From the look of things, I would have done better with a Marauder or some such, one of the Fendery-sounding Gibsons withOUT the new Bill Lawrence pickups. Those Midnight Specials were just DOGS, really. If you have very slim fingers (I don't) and you don't mind changing pickups, and you like the look of a Gibson with a maple fingerboard and maple-faced headstock, with a bolt-on maple neck, maple body, and strings thru the body, then by all means, buy one. It was just too bright for me, in a shrill way, probably from all that maple, and certainly from those pickups. The neck was soooo narrow that I couldn't play an open B7 chord without deadening the open B string, but thick from front to back. Crazy neck. As chunky front to back as any thick Gibson neck you could think of, but so slim from side to side that my fingers got in each others' way all the time. I remember paying $225 for it in 1986 (just before I graduated high school) and selling it for $100 a year later, after I'd purchased a MUCH better guitar for me (1963 National Westwood 75). Argh.

[Artie Fisk]

I should add that as a rule I LOVE Gibsons, although I don't currently own or play one. My favorite guitar for many many years was a black, 1984 ES-335 dot, just like the one Roy Orbison played in his Black and White Night concert on HBO in 1980-whatever-it-was. It had a buttery-smooth, easy-playing neck that felt perfect in my hand, pickups that really growled when you dimed them through a Pro Reverb parked at about 5 or 6 on the volume, and it was big, solid, and classy. LOVED that guitar. I played that guitar every day from 1987 through about 2001, when I had to sell it in a bad pinch. I wish every day that I hadn't. So I do like Gibsons quite a bit, just not that dratted Midnight Special.

[kennybro]

I had a beauty L5S that I bought new in 70's and sold recently at the Indy show. I couldn't use it live because it was a cinderblock; by far, the heaviest piece I've ever owned. Looked exactly like the second from the left in the OP. Made good profit on it, and didn't shed a tear when it walked away (the buyer had it in his left hand, and he was leaning a bit that direction). The weight is probably a factor in why more aren't used today. Great guitars.

One I wish I kept was an L6S that I bought about the same time. Light as a feather. It had those super hummers, and I loved them. Used it with Skafish in that URGH film, and the sound on film is the L6 through a 100W Marshall on 11, one speaker miced with a 57. Even though my high E fell a touch flat on that take, I chose not to re-play the lead at post, and I'm happy for that. Lots of crunch and bite that would have been difficult to match with a different guitar.

I stupidly sold it to a buddy, and as someone else said above, I used to visit it once in a while. He wouldn't sell it back, and I lost track of him years ago.

[Joe Cole]

Originally Posted by Artie Fisk

..... The neck was soooo narrow that I couldn't play an open B7 chord without deadening the open B string, but thick from front to back. Crazy neck. Argh.

The L6-S have a really thin neck too, making it had to be play complex chords down in the lower frets for an oaf like me. Up high, it was not an issue, but I have to be much more deliberate and smooth when I play versus when I grab my Strat.